Literature Analysis
Raisin in the Sun is a play by Lorraine Hansberry which portrays the story of a lower-class African American family living in South Chicago in the 1950s and seek to move to a white middle-class neighbourhood. Even though a 10,000 $ check has been used as a down payment for the house, the remainder was given to the son of the family, who in an attempt to invest the money, lost it all. Moreover, despite being told that they would not be welcomed into the white neighbourhood, they still decided to proceed ahead with their plan of moving to the new neighbourhood.
How does Hansberry Portray the Relationship between Walter and Ruth?
Walter is Lena’s son and Ruth’s husband. Ruth’s relationship with her husband’s family is comparable to that of Ruth in the bible, who promises her mother-in-law that she would always follow her wherever she went. Hansberry portrays Ruth as being of a soft personality type, which is simply content being with her family as comfortable as much as possible.
Hansberry portrays Walter and Ruth’s relationship as full of problems and marital despair. For instance, Walter and Ruth always seem to argue a lot, even on the minutest of things. However, despite this, Ruth displays a lot of strength and fights to save her marriage also when things seem hopeless. For instance, she never raises her voice at him even when he does so (Walter raises his voice quite often), and never succumbs to despair.
Ruth is portrayed as a nanny/babysitter to Walter. She is always there, attending to his needs and wishes, and tries very hard to please him. For instance, when George Murchison arrives in the middle of Walter and Beneatha’s dance, Ruth becomes overly apologetic about their behaviour. She cares and protects her husband even when he is wrong. Walter also depends on Ruth even for the smallest tasks, such as preparing breakfast. This is evident when she even asks Walter of the kind of eggs he always wanted for breakfast. Ruth is also evidently always worried about Walter almost all the time, and this is shown in the care she has of him.
Comments
You have done a remarkable job in describing how the author, Hansberry, has portrayed the relationship between Walter and Ruth. It is indeed true that Walter and Ruth have a lot of marital problems as you have indicated, and that Ruth sacrifices, and does a lot for her husband. However, it would be best if you had shown more of Ruth’s remarkable qualities by which she held her family together despite all the challenges.